Drifting Dark

Chapter 8: On The Radar

Cassie stood in the middle of the room as Mike took a seat next to Shrey up at the front. She had never been on a flight deck this cramped, where she could easily touch all four seats from where she was standing. There was an empty chair to her left, but she didn't take it, not wanting to unwittingly step on any toes.

Helen was already at the right rear station, cycling through various screens. Shrey barely acknowledged Mike's arrival, the pilot looked to be intensely focused on his work. Up on the main display, the ship's status information was being continuously updated.

Helen looked up from her screen, her brow furrowed slightly as she saw Cassie. "Cassie? What are you doing up here?"

Cassie tucked her hands into her spacious pockets. "Um, I didn't know where my station was supposed to be."

"I told her to come up," Mike said, twisting back around. "Thought the greenie should see what those spacer cruisers really look like."

Helen briefly raised an eyebrow at him before he turned his attention back to his console. "Cassie, your station is the engine room with Aqeel."

"Oh, sorry ma'am." Cassie took a step back, her heel on the edge of the doorframe. "I'll head down there right away."

"No, don't bother," Helen told her. "We're almost there. You can stay and watch." A small smile appeared on her face. "Just this time."

Cassie nodded, lingering in the doorway awkwardly.

Helen smile vanished and she turned back to Mike and Shrey. "What's our status?"

"We're looking good," Shrey answered. "Dark generator is at full."

"I'm only picking up the one ship so far," Mike added. "Readings are coming in now."

"What are we dealing with here?" Helen asked.

Mike worked away at his console for a minute before the viewscreen switched, a dark ship against an even darker background taking up less than a quarter of the display.

Everyone's eyes went to the big screen. Everyone except Mike.

Cassie took an unconscious step forwards, squinting at the image. It was nearly impossible to make out that it was even a ship.

"It's Destroyer class." Mike scrolled through the sensor logs, searching them carefully. "Looks like the Horizon Alliance. Holding position. Nothing unusual."

Helen nodded, glancing at the screens of her own workstations. "Log it along with the rest of the scan data. We'll pass everything off to intel later."

Cassie silently sat down on the edge of the free seat. The station's screens flickered to life automatically. She ignored them, her eyes still glued to the image of the rebel spaceship.

"Already done," Mike declared, a little prideful.

"Giving them all this data, we're not exactly proving that we aren't working for intel," Shrey said, mildly annoyed. "If we keep doing this, they'll really start to think of us as one of their damn spy ships."

"Hey, we'd make a great spy ship." Mike flashed a cocky smile. "We're sneaky. We've never gotten caught so far."

Shrey frowned slightly. "I prefer to stay out of the line of fire."

Helen nodded slightly, her expression unchanged. "How long now?"

Shrey looked at another screen. "Entering the bubble in about two minutes. It'll take us another ten to get out."

Mike and Shrey kept watching their own screens.

Cassie shifted. Her cushion squeaked.

Mike looked behind him, his expression changing as his eyes fell on Cassie. "Come look at this." He gestured forwards as the ship on the screen enlarged. The image blurred in and out as Mike fiddled with the settings.